American vs Russian Security Systems: Biology Determines the Winner

In light of the recent Russian occupation of the Ukraine, I am writing this blog post about why the Soviet Union had a difficult time competing with the American security system. I would like to start out by saying that had a full war, pending no nuclear weapons were used and no one wins, America would have obliterated the Russian military. My reasoning behind this bold statement does not come from an expertise in foreign affairs or blind patriotism but rather from an understanding about how natural selection works.

The Soviet Union was organized as a communist state where Russia maintained its influence over the iron curtain with an iron fist. The reason communism worked, for a brief time at least, was that the size of Russia and its arsenal of nuclear weapons allowed it to intimidate its aggressors from attacking and the citizens that were under the system gave their full effort to make the system work. The flaw of communism is that it eliminates natural selection from acting on those who are in charge of making important decisions. Sagarin alludes to this point in chapter 6 by saying that politicians in American culture are under the highest selective pressure of any leaders in the world. This is due to the fact that if they perform inadequately, or to the level the constituents do not deem fit, they are removed and another official who is presumably better is elected as the replacement. With a communist government, the Soviet Union officials were under no pressure, other than death by the Russian, to create efficient policy. When this takes place, threats are able to capitalize on the inefficiencies created by the few participants in the communist government who do not employ their best effort.  

Another reason the communist system failed is that the government did not have the private sector running anything. By outsourcing security in America, individuals with the best ability to secure a system are chosen to secure it and by having competition in bidding for the security jobs, the different problems faced are viewed by multiple individuals from different angles. Sagarin states that one of the biggest challenges facing security in today’s climate is preparing for threats that are not known to exist. The Soviet Union was easily removed from Afghanistan for this exact reason. America was able to create an unforeseen problem that the Soviet Union was ill prepared to defend its self against and would ultimately lose. Ironically, that threat was the weapons and aid given to the mujahideen which would later become the radical Muslim groups we know and fear today. In conclusion, the communist system fails in a competitive environment because communism eliminates competition with in its own borders, leaving it vulnerable to threats from the outside.